The World of Penelope
by thedarkpoet
Summary: It's been decreed by the higher powers that Max Ride and co. are to try out school one more time. But this time, the flock is separated, and there seems to be sinister situation revolving around a girl named Penelope...
1. Prologue

Apparently, it wasn't enough that I had saved the world from a variety of supervillians.

That I'd fought off the numerous minions said supervillians had a tendency to employ.

That I'd endured a series of sick and twisted experiments at a madhouse called the School (though not your humdrum everyday kind).

That I'd raised five other kids on my own, and two of them were obnoxious teenage boys.

No, apparently none of this was enough to say – get me out of school.

And it's not as if I hadn't tried school before – all of us had. But we'd come to one resounding conclusion.

It really didn't work.

So why was I here, preparing to once more enter a school?

Let's just say I'm a sucker for chocolate-chip cookies.


	2. School Again

One of the things I love about my mom is that she's so down to earth. She understands that sometimes, I really can't be a normal kid.

This may have something to do with my wings.

But still, she tries her best. She accepts that I honestly can't go anywhere without my flock – a group of kids I've lived with forever, and like me, happen to have the wing attachment. We were always together, every since our torture years back at the school. Me, Max, Fang and Iggy are all in the fourteenish range. Nudge, the chatterbox, is about eleven. Gazzy, Iggy's partner in crime is only eight, and his sister Angel, our resident mind reader/mind controller/generally scary girl, is just six. Though only Gazzy and Angel are actually related, we're all family anyway. We've protected each other, flew together, and I'm in charge of it all, sorta. Lately my role as "mom" has been taken over by my actual mother, Dr. Martinez. And she's actually pretty good at keeping order.

Like I said, she's pretty down to earth. Which is why I was completely shocked when she threw the school suggestion out there.

"I just think you might benefit from it?" I could tell she felt kinda guilty about saying it. The expressions on our faces _were_ pretty horrendous. Still, she should know better than anyone that for us, hearing the world school is akin to hearing the words fiery hellish pits of doom. For a starter.

I put down my fork gently.

"Mom," I said, getting a little pleasure out of the word. "We've, um, tried school before. And it really, really, didn't work."

She sighed, but didn't argue the point. Instead, she went to the kitchen and came out with – chocolate chip cookies?

Well that was just playing dirty.

So I'd allowed myself to be talked into it.

School.

Again


	3. The World's Longest Road Trip

**A/N: I'm sorry to say, that as a Canadian, I have a very limited education about the geography of the U.S.A. As in, I know there are fifty some-odd states and they are somewhere in the land mass to the south. So if I've made any grievous errors, feel free to mention them in a review.**

We'd had to move again. Not that moving was anything to horrific for us. But still – would it have killed Mom to let us stay there with her? She hadn't had much of an excuse, saying something about not making it hard for Ella.

So we were going to fly up to Colorado and Mom (I still get a kick out of thinking that) was supposed to meet us there. Then we'd fly (in a plane this time) to Michigan, which was so far north it was like I'd never heard of it.

"Max? Do you think we'll have uniforms at this school? And I hope the food is good at this new place. Maybe she'll make us tacos, like your mom does…" I began to tune out the rest. Nudge could go on for an hour without taking a breath. Instead, I focused on the movement of my wings. I felt powerful, like this was what I was meant to do.

_This is what you were meant to do, Max._

That would be my handy-dandy Voice – always cropping up at the wrong moments and making life difficult for me.

_That would explain those weird feathery things on my back,_ I replied snarkily.

My Voice was like that, throwing out a cryptic comment or two, then falling silent. I tended to ignore it. Unless, you know, it was telling me to kill the evil scum of the world. That sort of fit in with my agenda anyway.

"Max, are we there yet?" I frowned in Gazzy's direction. If he had too, that kid could go for hours without stopping. But as soon as our lives weren't in danger, it was a contest between him and Nudge to see who could drive me to the screaming point first.

I let out a lo-o-ong breath.

"No. We are not there yet."

"How much longer?"

"I don't know." I kept my voice calm and leaderly. Calm thoughts. Like cute little bunnies. Like smiling unicorns. Pretty rainbows.

"Max, do you think there'll be cute boys at this school? Do you think this new lady will help me with my hair? Do you think that all headmasters are evil? Will we have to take a school bus? Can you imagine going on a school bus? That would be so weird!"

Bunnies. Unicorns. Rainbows. Happy children.

"Will we be there soon?"

"Gazzy! Shut up!" He cackled, grinning wickedly at Nudge, who was pouting.

"I wiiin! Agaaain! Undefeaated!"

If it was ever in doubt, there's nothing more annoying than a triumphant eight year old.


End file.
